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Justice League Trailer’s Best (and Most Revealing) Moments

The arrival of the third, and likely final, trailer for Justice League undoubtedly brought with it the hope of fans that Superman, largely missing from the film’s marketing, would swoop in to save the day in the final moments. Although they didn’t get that scene, they were indeed treated to an appearance by Henry Cavill, although under what circumstances isn’t exactly clear.

What the trailer did give us is plenty of big moments, filled with action, dashes of humor, and a surprising amount of emotion. We’re also left with a better picture of just how big the threat is posed by Apokolips, even if the extent of it remains a little murky.

Below we break down the trailer’s biggest, and most intriguing, moments.

Superman (Kind of) Returns

Even the most jaded fans, and the most vocal critics of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, have to admit the trailer’s opening moments made them feel a warm inside … maybe even a little choked-up. While previous trailers showed on a world grappling with the aftermath of Superman’s sacrifice — revisionist history, at best, given he was portrayed as a divisive figure in Dawn of Justice — here, the loss is made incredibly personal.

Tugging at our heartstrings, with subtle help from Hans Zimmer’s Man of Steel score, Amy Adams’ Lois Lane walks onto the porch of the Kent house in Smallville to see Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent standing in the cornfield. (Can it get any more wholesome than that?) “I’ll take that as a yes,” he says to a confused Lois. “The ring.”

Is It Just a Dream?

The scene immediately cuts to Lois dropping soil onto Clark’s grave in Batman v Superman, with a focus on the engagement ring, before shifting almost as quickly to her waking alone in bed, starting her day — like everyone else — in a world without Superman. The editing of the leads us to believe the sequence on the Kent farm is merely a dream. But is it possible it’s a feint?

Listen, we know Superman will return in Justice League, in some form (and quite possibly in a black costume), but perhaps the heartwarming interaction between Clark and a bewildered Lois isn’t a dream. Maybe it’s from late in the film, after Superman has arrived to help save the day, again.

Amazons vs. Apokolips

We’ve seen the army of Themyscira take on the forces of Apokolips in previous trailers, but this sequence is new, and reinforces the earlier belief that those scenes are set centuries ago, during a first invasion. Presumably, that’s when three Mother Boxes were left behind on Earth: one in the possession of the Amazons, another in the hands of Atlantis, and the third hidden somewhere among humanity.

Steppenwolf Still Knows How to Make An Entrance

Just as in the previous trailer, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds of Game of Thrones) certainly knows how to make an entrance. The general of Apokolips’ invading forces doesn’t simply walk onto a battlefield; he drops from great heights, striking the ground with what we can assume is his Electro-Ax. But whatever it’s called in Justice League, the resulting blow is impressive, as it transforms the surrounding earth into a molten wasteland, similar to that of Steppenwolf’s fiery homeworld.

As we previously indicated, these battle scenes are probably from Apokolips’ first invasion of Earth, sometime in the distant past, when Steppenwolf and his Parademons were presumably defeated by the combined forces of Themyscira, Atlantis and mankind. They apparently left behind three Mother Boxes in the process; now Steppenwolf has returned to get them back. Why now is the big question.